Airbnb Emergency Prep: What You Should Be Doing As An Airbnb Host

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In today’s Airbnb blog post, I want to talk about Airbnb Emergency prep. This includes how to prepare your short-term rental for possible emergencies and how best to help your Airbnb guests handle them. This is crucial for any Airbnb host, and it’s not for the good reviews—it’s for peace of mind!

Airbnb Emergency Prep

In this Airbnb hosting blog post, when I talk about emergency prep, I mean everything from first aid and fire prevention to poison control and preventative measures. When something goes wrong at your Airbnb, your guests will likely be panicked. As an Airbnb host, you need to stay calm, remain accessible, and help them through an emergency.

What Type Of Emergencies Might Occur At Your Property?

When thinking about how best to plan for emergencies at your Airbnb. It’s important to think about what type of issues are most likely to arise. Here are four of the main Airbnb emergencies that you need to be able to respond to.

weather emergencies
power outages
accidents and injuries
medical issues

#1 Weather Emergencies

Consider the location of your Airbnb rental. What weather issues are most likely to arise? Hurricanes are likely a big one in Florida. In the Midwest, it can be Spring tornados. If it is a cooler destination, it can be intense winter storms.

For hurricanes, you need to first make sure you know your zone and evacuation routes. If tornados are an issue, where should your guests go if there is a tornado warning? Are wildfires a possibility? What should they do if one breaks out? These are all very specific to your Airbnb’s location. I just want you to think about it and arm yourself with knowledge here!

Also, you need to have a policy in place regarding cancelations. Typically, if there is a hurricane warning, Airbnb will allow guests to cancel without penalty, and you don’t want guests there anyway! However, if there is a hurricane several states away and just some light rain is forecasted for your area, are you going to allow cancellations?

#2 Power Outages

Even if it’s not a significant weather event, power outages can occur anywhere during severe weather and even when there aren’t weather issues. You will want to make sure to have flashlights and extra batteries on hand. These tend to walk away when kids play with them, so have extras for your extras. I will include a shopping list later in this post that contains flashlights and my other reccomendations.

Know where your breaker boxes are located so that you can give easy-to-follow instructions for resetting them if needed. You also should know exactly where all of your utility shut-offs are.

Additionally, if you use Airbnb smart locks, make sure to have a lockbox with a key onsite for manual entry if needed.

#3 Accidents & Injuries

Accidents can happen anywhere. Your Airbnb guest could fall down a flight of stairs or slice their finger cutting lemons. I always recommend having a good Airbnb First Aid Kit or two at every rental property. Replenish or replace items within them as needed.

#4 Medical Issues

This category includes medical emergencies such as heart attacks, poison control issues, allergic reactions, etc. For these, your job as an Airbnb host should be to have all of the local emergency services info on hand. This includes:

nearest hospital
nearest pharmacy
nearest urgent care
fire department
poison control number
local emergency number

You can either have these in a saved Airbnb response to provide as needed or print them off and have them on hand inside your rental. If possible, it’s always nice to have a custom magnet made with this information. In my case, I would even add the beach flag warning sytem to mine.

Safety At Your Airbnb

So, what can you do to help prevent emergencies or quickly address them?

First, provide fire extinguishers, smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors, and a first aid kit to cover the necessary bases. A key part of your Airbnb emergency prep is to make sure they are always in working order.

Then, walk your rental with a critical eye. What could possibly go wrong? Do slick stairs need some grip? Should you paint that short dropoff so that people don’t trip? Could a child open a window and fall? Are railings too wide? Is the gate around the pool secure? One of my best kitchen safety tips is to make sure knives are out of reach and have cabinet locks available for your guests with small children.

Once you have a list, address anything or make your guests aware of any potential safety issues. Proactive communication goes a long way here!

Being Accessible In Case Of An Airbbnb Emergency

If an emergency were to occur at your short-term rental property, you need to be accessible! If you have read my other blog posts, you’d know that I always ask guests to communicate with me within the Airbnb app. However, I do have a couple of lines at the end of my House Manual letting them know that they can call my cell number if there is an emergency. I also include my husband’s number in case they can’t reach me.

I think guests must always be able to reach someone during an emergency, so I always cover my bases. For example, if we are going to be on a long-haul flight to Europe, I let my guests know. I have a friend and local host as well as my cleaners as my backup emergency number and proactively offer that to my current stays if there is a chance we won’t be reachable for more than a couple of hours.

So, before I board my flight, I send them a message that says, “I hope that you are enjoying your stay! I just wanted to let you know that we are boarding a long-haul flight. While I should have internet and be able to respond quickly, there is always a chance that it won’t be working. If there is an emergency and you can’t get a hold of me through Airbnb or via phone, please reach out to PERSON at PHONE NUMBER.”

Airbnb Emergency Prep Shopping List

Here are some of the Airbnb emergency prep items that I recommend Airbnb hosts buy for their Airbnb rental property. Of course, some of these do vary based on your location, but I wanted to include all of them just in case!

And everyone needs Airbnb fire safety items. Also, please make sure guests know where to find these items. I include the location of my first aid kit, fire extinguisher, flashlights, child locks, and toolbox in my Airbnb House Manual. Other things are stored away, and I would only bring them up in case of an emergencies

Airbnb emergency prep recommendations:

More Airbnb Hosting Tips

Here at Our Little Lifestyle, I have countless free hosting blog posts to help you become a better Airbnb host, earn 5-star reviews, streamline your Airbnb workflow, support your Airbnb guests, protect your home, and maximize your profits!

Feel free to browse all Airbnb posts or you can start on my 5-Star Airbnb Hosting Guide!

Happy hosting!